Bill > SB6049

This bill, titled "Protecting student and employee information from public disclosure," amends existing state laws (RCW 42.56.250 and 42.56.320) to expand the types of information that are exempt from public inspection and copying. Specifically, it adds protections for individual survey responses voluntarily provided by state employees, vendors, or contractors for the purpose of improving state government, as well as individual student responses to the healthy youth survey. The bill also clarifies that "deidentified," "anonymized," and "aggregated" data formats do not prevent the release of certain employee demographic and benefit enrollment information. Additionally, it includes provisions to protect employees who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, hate crimes, or harassment, or who participate in an address confidentiality program, from having their personally identifying information disclosed. The bill also defines "aggregated," "anonymized," and "deidentified" for clarity. Importantly, Section 1 of this act is set to expire on June 1, 2028, while Section 2 will take effect on that date, indicating a transition in how this information is handled.